to Manjus’ri, and to Kwan-she-yin.  When the monks have done receiving their annual tribute from the harvests, the Heads of the Vaisyas and all the Brahmans bring clothes and such other articles as the monks require for use, and distribute among them.  The monks, having received them, also proceed to give portions to one another.  From the nirvana of Buddha, the forms of ceremony, laws, and rules, practised by the sacred communities, have been handed down from one generation to another without interruption.

From the place where the travellers crossed the Indus to South India, and on to the Southern Sea, a distance of forty or fifty thousand li, all is level plain.  There are no large hills with streams among them; there are simply the waters of the rivers.

[Footnote 1:  No monk can eat solid food except between sunrise and noon, and total abstinence from intoxicating drinks is obligatory.  Food eaten at any other part of the day is called vikala, and forbidden; but a weary traveller might receive unseasonable refreshment, consisting of honey, butter, treacle, and sesamum oil.]

[Footnote 2:  Sariputtra was one of the principal disciples of Buddha, and indeed the most learned and ingenious of them all.]

[Footnote 3:  Mugalan, the Singhalese name of this disciple, is more pronounceable.  He also was one of the principal disciples, called Buddha’s “left-hand attendant.”  He was distinguished for his power of vision, and his magic powers.]

[Footnote 4:  The different parts of the tripitaka.]

[Footnote 5:  The bhikshunis are the female monks or nuns, subject to the same rules as the bhikshus, and also to special ordinances of restraint.]

[Footnote 6:  The Sramaneras are the novices, male or female, who have vowed to observe the Shikshapada, or ten commandments.]

[Footnote 7:  The eldest son of Sakyamuni by Yasodhara.  Converted to Buddhism, he followed his father as an attendant; and after Buddha’s death became the founder of a philosophical realistic school (vaibhashika).  He is now revered as the patron saint of all novices, and is to be reborn as the eldest son of every future Buddha.]

CHAPTER XVII

Legend of the Trayastrimsas Heaven

From this they proceeded southeast for eighteen yojanas, and found themselves in a kingdom called Sankas’ya, at the place where Buddha came down, after ascending to the Trayastrims’as heaven [1], and there preaching for three months his Law for the benefit of his mother [2].  Buddha had gone up to this heaven by his supernatural power, without letting his disciples know; but seven days before the completion of the three months he laid aside his invisibility, and Anuruddha [3], with his heavenly eyes, saw the World-honored one, and immediately said to the honored one, the great Mugalan, “Do you go and salute the World-honored one,” Mugalan forthwith went,